The Best Investment of Them All

Over the next five years, state officials predict that California’s K-12 public school population will grow by nearly 1 million students. At that rate, according to the governor’s Office of Child Development and Education, “19 new classrooms (almost an average elementary school) need to be built in California each day, including weekends and holidays, for the next six years to accommodate the increased enrollment.”

That’s an astonishing statistic. But it’s all the more stunning when one considers the state of disrepair of the state’s existing schools--more than half of which were constructed more than 30 years ago.

To help address these pressing needs, voters should approve the Safe Schools Act, Proposition 1B, on the June 7 ballot. A “yes” vote on 1B would make available $1 billion in bond monies to pay for construction, reconstruction and modernization projects at elementary and secondary schools across California.

If Proposition 1B is approved it will benefit Southern California counties like Riverside and San Bernardino, which have the highest per-pupil growth rates in the state. In addition, the money would help ease overcrowding in urban school districts like Los Angeles Unified and Orange County’s Santa Ana School District. Renovation monies would be a big boost for smaller districts too, like Pleasant Valley in Ventura County, which is in dire need of such funds. Funds from 1B would also be used to make schools safer in earthquakes.

California’s children deserve the best. Wise investments in their education today will mean a work force better able to meet the challenges of a high-tech economy in 21st-Century California. We urge a “yes” vote for Proposition 1B.